Wages in San Diego not rising fast enough

In this Aug. 2, 2012 photo, ironworker Stephen MacGray cuts a steel brace at the World Trade Center construction site, in New York. U.S. employers added 163,000 jobs in July, a hopeful sign after three months of sluggish hiring. The Labor Department said Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, that the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June. July's hiring was the best since February. Still, the economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
— AP

In this Aug. 2, 2012 photo, ironworker Stephen MacGray cuts a steel brace at the World Trade Center construction site, in New York. U.S. employers added 163,000 jobs in July, a hopeful sign after three months of sluggish hiring. The Labor Department said Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, that the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June. July's hiring was the best since February. Still, the economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
/ AP

The fields experiencing the most growth are those in the sciences, health care, and engineers. Cunningham said those fields are seeing growth and offer higher pay because there is demand for qualified workers, and competition for them statewide.

Health-care practitioners and technical occupations have added 4,130 jobs over the past five years, with the average salary of $86,671, up slightly from $86,425 in 2010.

Life, physical, and social sciences added 4,050 jobs, and the average worker in that sector makes $75,988. That’s a 4.3 percent increase from $72,840 in 2010. Computer and mathematical occupations added 3,900 jobs, with the average salary of $86,033, up from $79,899 in 2010, a 7.7 percent increase in pay.

“Clearly people making below the average salary got hit much harder than people that were making above it,” Adibi said. “The only professions that really survived or recouped jobs the fastest are mostly white collar or in health care.”